Speaker Q&A

Catch a glimpse into what is top-of-mind for leading DCX experts today.

We asked DCX experts the following question regarding the future of digital customer experience, and they were kind enough to share their insights with us:

What are you most excited about for the future of digital customer experience? Is there anything you have your eye on now?

McDonald’s

Senior Director, Global Social Media,Dan Gingiss

The next evolution of digital customer service is going to be about automation, and the big question is how companies will use it. Will they look at automation as a cost-savings tool, allowing them to get rid of human employees whose job it is to engage with other humans? Or will they use automation to complement those humans, making their jobs easier and the customer experience more pleasant? After all, customers are receptive to some forms of automation; that’s why “Press 1 to hear your balance” is still the first choice of almost every credit card automated telephone system. But when customers need real help with complex problems, “bots” will most likely fail them, because there is not a replacement for human-to-human interaction. Companies that understand this will figure out how to integrate automation into the digital customer experience in a positive way for both the brand and the customer.

Nationwide

AVP, User Experience,Heidi Munc

I’m most excited about the convergence of UX and CX as companies begin to flex their UX muscle to unite their company’s CX initiatives with their design strategies.

How companies will leverage the intersection of technology and emotion to craft experiences resonant with the emotions that strengthen customer loyalty.

Salesforce

Director, Customer Success, Americas,Kristen Engelhardt

I am most excited about the intersection between the data and the narrative of the customer experience. We are fortunate to be swimming in lakes of customer data, while also having access to some of the most promising intelligence tools of our time. Big Data analysis, Predictive Intelligence, Artificial Intelligence and more. Our ability to understand customer needs is unprecedented. But data without the story behind it is just numbers. How will organizations drive an effective experience from both?

Zappos

Head of UX Research and Web Analytics,Alex Genov

I am most excited about the opportunity for businesses to understand customers as people (not just as shoppers), with real empathy, and to crate products and services that make those people’s lives better. That, in turn will lead to dramatic business growth.

Using new technological advancements to measure non-verbal expressions of emotion, such as facial expression, voice modulation, psychophysiological reactions, etc.

Brightpeak Financial

CMO,Eric Hughes

There are many things I’m excited about when thinking about the future of the digital customer experience. Yet the thing that excites me the most is the potential for AI to help us all make decisions that help us feel better. More confident even. We know from our own personal experiences, and research shows that confidence is a difference maker in how we make decisions. User-interactive AI can help us individually and together be more confident in our decisions. Basing those decisions on countless data points that essentially help us become smarter, more confident people who are able to live our lives with a stronger sense of purpose, contentment and generosity.

The New York Racing Association

SVP, Chief Experience Officer,Lynn LaRocca

The digital customer experience is changing rapidly and allowing for personalized communication and instant gratification on behalf of the consumer. From a sports perspective, I’m particularly interested in being able to tailor messages to individual fans in real-time, whether they are at one of our venues or following on a device in another location. The intersection of virtual reality and sporting events is going to be very intriguing.

Vivint

Director, Customer Experience & Partner Marketing,Andrew Watson

It is exciting to me to see how CX has moved from a peripheral function toward being a core part of business operations. CX professionals have been pioneers in driving the digital backbone that now permeates the entire business ecosystem; inserting themselves into product development, policy making, marketing, operations and more. Organizations are now realizing the power of combining 1:1 customer relationships with technology deployed across multiple touch points across the customer lifecycle to achieve a transparent and true personalized experience.

Successful organizations now understand that customer relationships are not linear; nor are they attempting to apply a ‘one-size-fits-all’ methodology when building out a CX strategy. The digital tools available today allow brands to develop a personal, highly targeted relationship with different segments of their customer population. Ten years ago, companies had to focus primarily on delighting the most lucrative customer segment, whereas today we have the ability to craft a relationship strategy with all types of personalities, communication styles and preferences, and other data points. All of this results in customers that trust the people behind the logo, which results in an increase in brand loyalty.

Etrade

Director of UX Design and Research,Melissa Douros

With the abundance of varying software technology that are hot topics in the industry right now (Chatbots, Messaging, AI), I am most interested to see how the hardware that will enable users to utilize the software are going to evolve, particularly with voice.

Most of us can probably remember the Zoolander movie where Ben Stiller opens the world’s smallest phone, and recall how we were on that path! Then we did a complete 360 with the introduction of the first smart phone. Suddenly we were craving more real estate and varying screen sizes began to flood the market.

So how will we utilize the technologies of the future? Consumers have seen the rise and subsequent fall of Google Glass in the mainstream, wearables with phone and fitness capabilities in one, voice operated hardware – I actually get mad in my car because I can’t voice control my music selection the way I would at home via Alexa (Alexa, NO, I said play Handclap!)

We’re still developing a lot of the technologies of the future; it’s how we will ubiquitously use them that is still to be unveiled.

Google

Director, Customer Success, Americas,Dutta Satadip

I believe that Machine Learning will have a big impact on the future of customer experience. While computers will not replace humans but we will in a position to deliver better customer experience as technologies will be able to provide more assistance especially to problems that are pattern based. I think we as leaders need to not only focus on technologies but a mindset shift that will be required in teams and leadership to make this happen

Nationwide

Director, User Experience,Jason Mowery

One thing many of us have our eyes on here is the huge potential impact blockchain technology could have on the digital customer experience in the future. Functionality like “smart contracts” that simply fire when certain conditions are met could revolutionize industries that currently depend heavily on intermediaries (like insurance and financial services).

Strategy Institute is an established leader in delivering timely knowledge and best practices to customer experience and marketing professionals. Strategy Institute has cultivated an elite conference portfolio geared towards CX executives including: Digital Customer Experience Strategies Summit in New York, Chicago and in the United Kingdom, Customer Experience Strategies Summit in Toronto and Digital Marketing for Financial Services in Toronto, New York and San Francisco. Through powerful business intelligence, SI summits enable senior Digital CX and marketing executives to stay competitive and relevant.